Prediction
of Pathological Personality Traits from
the CBCL Dysregulation Profile among Belgian
(Flemish) Children

A pattern
of CBCL/6-18 syndrome scale scores designated as the Dysregulation
Profile (CBCL-DP) has been identified among children in multiple
societies. The CBCL-DP is defined by elevated scores on the
Anxious/Depressed, Attention Problems, and Aggressive Behavior
syndromes. To test the ability of the CBCL-DP to predict subsequent
personality trait scores, De Caluwe et al. (2013) applied
latent class analyses to CBCL syndrome scale scores obtained
at ages 8-14 by 243 clinically referred and nonreferred children
in Flanders, the Flemish speaking region of Belgium. The latent
class analyses identified a pattern of CBCL syndrome scores
corresponding to the CBCL-DP, as well as several other profile
patterns. Four years later, the children's mothers rated them
on the Personality Inventory for DSM-5. After controlling
for clinical status, De Caluwe et al. found that children
classified as having the CBCL-DP obtained significantly higher
scores than other children on the following personality traits:
Hostility, risk taking, deceitfulness, callousness, grandiosity,
irresponsibility, impulsivity, and manipulativeness. The authors
concluded that their "findings convincingly show the
significance of early dysregulation in terms of its association
with personality difficulties and hence empirically illustrate
that a specific combination of scores on the various scales
of the well-validated CBCL may contribute to the diagnostic
process of childhood psychopathology in terms of identifying
children who are prone to more maladaptive pathways of personality
development" (p. 410).